120 memorable photos of 2012

In this Nov. 11, 2012, photo, a young man and a woman enjoy swimming in flooded St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy. High tides flooded Venice, leading Venetians and tourists to don high boots and use wooden walkways to cross St. Mark's Square and other areas under water.

Credit: AP Photo/Luigi Costantini

In this July 27, 2012, photo, the Olympic rings light up the stadium during the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Credit: AP Photo/Morry Gash

In this March 4, 2012, photo, Spanish bullfighter Juan Jose Padilla performs during a bullfight in the southwestern Spanish town of Olivenza. Padilla, who lost sight in one eye and has partial facial paralysis after a terrifying goring returned to the bullring, five months after his injury.

Credit: AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza

In this May 24, 2012, photo, lawmakers scuffle from pro-presidential and oppositional factions in the parliament session hall in Kiev, Ukraine. The hall erupted over a bill that would allow the use of the Russian language in courts, hospitals and other institutions in the Russian-speaking regions of the country.

Credit: AP Photo/Maks Levin

In this July 20, 2012, photo, Tom Sullivan, center, embraces family members outside Gateway High School where he had been searching frantically for his son Alex Sullivan who celebrated his 27th birthday by going to see "The Dark Knight Rises," movie where a gunman opened fire in Aurora, Colo.

Credit: AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez

In this Oct. 29, 2012, photo, sea water floods the Ground Zero construction site in New York. Superstorm Sandy forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain.

Credit: AP Photo/John Minchillo

This July 13, 2011, photo, made available on the International Security Assistance Force's Flickr website shows the former Commander of International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan Gen. Davis Petraeus, left, shaking hands with Paula Broadwell, co-author of "All In: The Education of General David Petraeus." Petraeus resigned as CIA director over his extramarital affair with his biographer, Broadwell.

Credit: AP Photo, file

In this July 24, 2012, photo, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez holds up a pair of pistols that he says belonged to Venezuela's independence hero Simon Bolivar during a ceremony marking 229th anniversary of Bolivar's birth at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela. Bolivar is the namesake of Chavez's Bolivarian Revolution movement, and his government is putting the finishing touches on a new mausoleum to house Bolivar's remains.

Credit: AP Photo/Fernando Llano

In this Oct. 31, 2012, photo, President Barack Obama is greeted by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie upon his arrival at Atlantic City International Airport in Atlantic City, NJ. Obama traveled to the region to take an aerial tour of the Atlantic Coast in New Jersey in areas damaged by superstorm Sandy.

Credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais

In this Feb. 29, 2012, photo, Santosh, who sells donkey milk, holds a baby upside down after feeding him some of the liquid, locally believed to be a cure for a persistent cough in a slum in Mumbai, India. Millions of children are growing up in squalid urban areas and denied basic services despite living close to them. UNICEF said children living in slums and shantytowns often lack water, electricity and healthcare and urged policy makers to ensure urban planning meets the needs of children.

Credit: AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool

In this July 17, 2012, photo, Dancers in Taiwan's Paper Windmill Cultural Foundation perform during a dress rehearsal of Paper Windmill Fantasia in Taipei, Taiwan. With integration of familiar nursery rhymes, passionate dance, literary meaning and sophisticated art forms, this drama claims an unprecedented performance demonstrating the unique innovations of the modern theater in Taiwan.

Credit: AP Photo/Wally Santana

In this May 6, 2012, photo, Russian riot police disperse opposition protesters in downtown Moscow. Riot police in began arresting protesters who were trying to reach the Kremlin in a demonstration on the eve of Vladimir Putin's inauguration as president.

Credit: AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev

In this April 26, 2012. photo provided by the CU Independent, shows a bear that wandered into the University of Colorado Boulder, Colo., dorm complex Williams Village falling from a tree after being tranquilized by Colorado wildlife officials. Colorado University police spokesman Ryan Huff said the bear was likely 1-3 years old and weighed somewhere between 150-200 pounds.

Credit: AP Photo/CU Independent, Andy Duann, file

In this May 23, 2012, photo, an Egyptian woman searches for her name on a registration list outside a polling station in Helwan, a southern suburb of Cario, Egypt. Egypt commenced two days of presidential voting after 16 months of interim rule by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces. This election was the first free and fair presidential race since the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak.

Credit: AP Photo/Pete Muller

In this Feb. 5, 2012, photo, people walk along an icy promenade past ice covered cars and trees on the shores of Lake Geneva in Versoix, Switzerland. Across Eastern Europe, thousands of people dug out from heavy snow that had fallen during a cold snap and killed hundreds of people.

Credit: AP Photo/Martial Trezzini

In this Nov. 17, 2012, photo, smoke rises during an explosion from an Israeli forces strike in Gaza City. Israel bombarded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with nearly 200 airstrikes widening a blistering assault on Gaza rocket operations by militants to include the prime minister's headquarters, a police compound and a vast network of smuggling tunnels.

Credit: AP Photo/Hatem Moussa

In this Nov. 7, 2012, photo, Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney walks away from the podium after conceding the race during his election night rally in Boston.

Credit: AP Photo/Stephan Savoia

In this March 29, 2012, photo, Mireia Arnau, 39, reacts behind the broken glass of her shop stormed by demonstrators during clashes at the general strike in Barcelona. Spanish workers livid over labor reforms they see as flagrantly pro-business staged a nationwide strike and tried to bring the country to a halt by blocking traffic, closing factories and clashing with police in rowdy demonstrations.

In this Oct. 16, 2012, photo, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, left, and President Barack Obama spar during the second presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

Credit: Charlie Neibergall

In this March 12, 2012, photo, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, right, puts his hands on the neck of Spain's Economy Minister Luis de Guindos, center, as Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees De Jager, left, looks on during a meeting of eurozone finance ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels. As ministers chatted with each other at the meeting, the eurogroup's chief, Jean-Claude Juncker, came up behind Spanish finance minister, Luis De Guindos, and jokingly grabbed him by the neck with both hands, but the gesture soon appeared to change into a laughing friendly greeting and then deep discussion. The 17 euro countries were trying to focus on issues beyond the Greek crisis and deal with longer-term issues in their currency union, like discussing Spain's high deficits and potentially dangerous imbalances in some countries.

Credit: AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

In this Nov. 7, 2012, photo, a riot police officer is engulfed by petrol bomb flames thrown by protesters in front of the parliament during clashes in Athens.

Credit: AP Photo/Dimitri Messinis

In this Sept. 2, 2012, photo, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso of Spain, left, crashes with McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain, airborne right, during the first lap of the Belgium Formula One Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Belgium.

Credit: AP Photo/Luca Bruno

In this June 21, 2012, photo, Indian employees are evacuated as smoke billows after the Maharashtra state government building caught fire in Mumbai, India. Hundreds of employees were evacuated from the seven-story government building as more than two dozen fire engines battled the major fire that raged for more than three hours in India's financial and entertainment capital.

Credit: AP Photo, file

In this Sept. 5, 2012, photo, former President Bill Clinton bows as President Barack Obama walks on stage after Clinton's address to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.

Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

In this May 6, 2012, photo, a wounded opposition protester winces in pain during a rally in Moscow. Riot police in Moscow began arresting protesters who were trying to reach the Kremlin in a demonstration on the eve of Vladimir Putin's inauguration as president.

Credit: AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel

In this March 16, 2012, photo, Indian students hold a large poster of Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar after Tendulkar batted for his landmark 100th century, at a school in Chennai, southern India. Tendulkar, who had been stuck on 99 centuries for a year, became the first cricketer to score 100 international centuries when he hit to square leg and ran a single against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup.

Credit: AP Photo/Anonymous

In this May 20, 2012, photo, hikers watch an annular eclipse from Papago Park in Phoenix. The annular eclipse, in which the moon passes in front of the sun leaving only a golden ring around its edges, was visible to wide areas across China, Japan and elsewhere in the region before moving across the Pacific to be seen in parts of the western United States.

Credit: AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, Michael Chow, File

George Zimmerman, right, enters the courtroom, April 20, 2012, during a bond hearing in Sanford, Fla. Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester says Zimmerman can be released on $150,000 bail as he awaits trial for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of Martin. He claims self-defense.

Credit: AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary W. Green, Pool

In this Oct. 30, 2012, photo, damage caused by a fire in the Breezy Point section of the Queens borough of New York is shown. The fire department sent more than 190 firefighters to the blaze caused by superstorm Sandy.

Credit: Frank Franklin II

In this Sept. 9, 2012, photo, President Barack Obama, right, is picked-up off the ground by Scott Van Duzer, left, owner of Big Apple Pizza and Pasta Italian Restaurant during an unannounced stop, in Ft. Pierce, Fla.

Credit: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

In this Oct. 3, 2012, photo, a Syrian man cries while holding the body of his son killed by the Syrian Army near Dar El Shifa hospital in Aleppo, Syria.

Credit: AP Photo/Manu Brabo

In this Nov. 18, 2012, photo, a Palestinian man kisses the hand of a dead relative in the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Credit: AP Photo/Bernat Armangue

In this Nov. 20, 2012, photo, Israeli soldiers and a civilian take cover as a siren alerting of an incoming rocket from Gaza Strip sounds in Ofakim, southern Israel.

Credit: AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov

In this Oct. 9, 2012, photo, former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, center, is taken from the Centre County Courthouse by Centre County Sheriff Denny Nau, left, and a deputy, after being sentenced in Bellefonte, Pa. Sandusky was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison, effectively a life sentence, in the child sexual abuse scandal that brought shame to Penn State and led to coach Joe Paterno's downfall.

Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

The San Francisco Giants celebrate winning Game Four of the World Series at Comerica Park on Oct. 28, 2012, in Detroit, Mich.

Credit: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

In this Aug. 30, 2012, photo, residents evacuate their flooded neighborhood in LaPlace, La. Hurricane Isaac staggered toward central Louisiana, its weakening winds driving storm surge into portions of the coast and the River Parishes between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

Credit: AP Photo/Eric Gay

In this Jan. 7, 2012, photo, a wild full grown leopard scalps the head of a man as it attacks after wandering into a residential neighborhood in Gauhati, in the northern state of Assam, India. Later the leopard was tranquilized by wildlife official and taken to the state zoological park. The leopard ventured into a crowded area and injured four people before it was captured and caged.

Credit: AP Photo/Manas Paran

In this Aug. 5, 2012, file photo, and publicly provided by the police department in Hanover, Germany, a squirrel is trapped in a manhole cover in Isenhagen, northern Germany. After they were called by neighbors, police managed to free the animal by using olive oil.

Credit: AP Photo, file

In this Aug. 9, 2012, photo, Line judge Shannon Eastin takes the field during an NFL preseason football game between the San Diego Chargers and the Green Bay Packers in San Diego. Eastin was a replacement official making her NFL debut in the exhibition game. The regular officials had been locked out by the league after their contract expired.

Credit: AP Photo/Denis Poroy

In this March 28, 2012, photo made available by the Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI, right, meets with Fidel Castro in Havana, Cuba.

Credit: AP Photo, file

In this Jan. 12, 2012, photo, Mohammad Saber Yaqoti Hussaini Khedri, second right, the calligrapher of the world's biggest copy of the holy Quran turns a page at a ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan. Khedri claims to have completed the writing of the world's biggest copy of Islam's holy Quran in 5 years along with his nine students and the financial support of a well- known figure Afghan Sayed Mansoor Nadri.

Credit: AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq

In this May 23, 2012, photo, chief midwife Maria Antoneta Cabral Barbosa holds a newborn baby boy she had just delivered by flashlight, at the regional hospital in Gabu, Guinea-Bissau. In Guinea-Bissau, one of the deadliest places in the world to give birth, a woman has a 1 in 19 chance of maternal death, compared to about 1 in 2,100 in the United States. Experts say women are increasingly heading to medical centers when things go awry, but logistical, financial, and cultural barriers are still keeping many pregnant women from seeking help in time.

Credit: AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

In this April 24, 2012, photo, North Korea's new commander in chief, Kim Jong Un is displayed on a giant screen during a concert on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the North Korean army in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

In this Aug. 5, 2012, photo, Jamaica's Usain Bolt crosses the finish line to win gold in the men's 100-meter final during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Credit: AP Photo/David J. Phillip

In this June 30, 2012, photo, Andy Murray of Britain struggles to try and return a shot to Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus during a third round men's singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, England.

Credit: AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus

This Nov. 10, 2012, photo shows a view of the fireworks display organized by Kuwait's government to commemorate Constitution Day in Kuwait City. The 60 minute $14 million spectacle was competing for a place in the Guiness Book of Records.

Credit: AP Photo/Gustavo Ferrari

In this July 14, 2012, photo, people try to extinguish the fire after a man set himself alight in Tel Aviv, Israel during rally marking the anniversary of a wave of demonstrations that swept the country to protest the high cost of living and other social issues. He was later rushed to a hospital where he was being treated for serious burns, police said.

Credit: AP Photo/Ben Kelmer

In this Nov. 29, 2012, photo, a roller coaster that once stood on the Funtown Pier at Seaside Heights is seen dunked in the ocean after the pier was hit by superstorm Sandy in Seaside Heights, N.J.

Credit: AP Photo/Julio Cortez

In this Jan. 16, 2012, photo, a man rides a horse through a bonfire in San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain in honor of Saint Anthony, the patron saint of animals. On the eve of Saint Anthony's Day, hundreds ride their horses trough the narrow cobblestone streets of the small village of San Bartolome during the "Luminarias," a tradition that dates back 500 years and is meant to purify the animals with the smoke of the bonfires and protect them for the year to come.

Credit: AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza

In this June 26, 2012, photo, fire from the Waldo Canyon wildfire burns as it moved into subdivisions and destroyed homes in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Credit: AP Photo/Galon Wampler

In this Sept. 26, 2012, photo, a worker is seen partially submerged under water as he tries to repair a broken pipe in Caracas, Venezuela.

Credit: AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd

In this Nov. 11, 2012, aerial photo, the two homes that were leveled and the numerous neighboring homes that were damaged from a massive explosion that sparked a huge fire and killed two people are shown in Indianapolis. Nearly three dozen homes were damaged or destroyed, and seven people were taken to a hospital with injuries. The powerful nighttime blast shattered windows, crumpled walls and could be felt at least three miles away. Authorities have said they believe the explosion was intentional and caused by natural gas but have released no other details.

Credit: AP Photo/The Indianapolis Star, Matt Kryger, File

In this Aug. 29, 2012, photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney watches the Republican National Convention with his grandchildren from his hotel room in Tampa, Fla.

Credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

In this April 3, 2012, photo, more than 200 pit bulls and other breeds are chained in their respective steel drum cages at a coffee farm lot in San Pablo city, Laguna province, south of Manila, Philippines, following their rescue from South Korean nationals. Dozens of pit bulls rescued from a dogfighting ring were being put down by activists who said there were no facilities to rehabilitate them and prevent them from again being used in underground arenas.

Credit: AP Photo/Bullit Marquez

In this Sept. 5, 2012, photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin waits in a motorized hang glider next to a Siberian white crane, on the Yamal Peninsula, in Russia. Putin took part in a flight as part of a program devised by environmentalists to lead the endangered cranes, which were raised in captivity, on their migration to Asia.

In this Feb. 16, 2012, photo, new North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, second from left, applauds as he leaves the stands at Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang after reviewing a parade of thousands of soldiers and commemorating the 70th birthday of the late Kim Jong Il.

Credit: David Guttenfelder

In this Sept. 28, 2012, photo, Nepalese gather around the burning wreckage at the crash site of a Sita Air airplane near Katmandu, Nepal. The plane carrying trekkers to the Everest region crashed and burned just after takeoff in Nepal

Credit: AP Photo/STR

In this March 26, 2012, photo, Tibetan exile Jamphel Yeshi screams as he runs engulfed in flames after setting himself on fire at a protest in New Delhi, India, against Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to India. Yeshi died two days later while hundreds of other activists were being held without charge before the president's arrival. Hu arrived in New Delhi for a summit with India, Russia, Brazil and South Africa.

Credit: AP Photo/Manish Swarup

In this May 30, 2012, photo, a Syrian woman, cries as she carries her injured son who was shot in his hand by the Syrian border guard when they were crossing a river from Syria to Lebanon, at the northern Lebanese-Syrian border town of Wadi Khaled, in Akkar, north Lebanon.

Credit: AP Photo/Hussein Malla

In this Oct. 30, 2012, photo, a parking lot full of yellow cabs is flooded as a result of superstorm Sandy in Hoboken, NJ.

Credit: AP Photo/Charles Sykes

In this Feb. 26, 2012, photo, best actress Meryl Streep, left, for "The Iron Lady" and best actor Jean Dujardin for "The Artist" pose with their awards during the 84th Academy Awards in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.

Credit: AP Photo/Joel Ryan

In this Nov. 26, 2012, photo, police officers are sprayed with milk by European milk farmers during a demonstration outside the European Parliament in Brussels. Farmers drove their tractors into the European Quarter of Brussels for a two-day demonstration to protest against what they believe are unfair milk prices.

Credit: AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert

In this Aug. 19, 2012, photo, surrounded by British police, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, center, makes a statement to the media and supporters from a window of the Ecuadorian Embassy in central London. Assange entered the embassy in June in an attempt to gain political asylum and prevent him from being extradited to Sweden, where he faces allegations of sex crimes, which he denies. Assange called on United States President Barack Obama to 'end a "witch hunt" against the secret-spilling WikiLeaks organization.

Credit: AP Photo/Sang Tan

In this Sept. 9, 2012, photo, Vice President Joe Biden talks to customers at Cruisers Diner during a campaign stop in Seaman, Ohio. The unidentified woman pulled her chair up close to the bench that Biden was seated on in order to speak to him.

Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

In this July 31, 2012, photo, an Indian barber holding a candle, gives a haircut for a customer at his shop in Kolkata, India. India's energy crisis cascaded over half the country when three of its regional grids collapsed, leaving 620 million people without government-supplied electricity for several hours in, by far, the world's biggest blackout.

Credit: AP Photo/Bikas Das

In this March 8, 2012, photo, Ahmed, center, mourns his father Abdulaziz Abu Ahmed Khrer, who was killed by a Syrian Army sniper, during his funeral in Idlib, north Syria.

Credit: AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd

In this Sept. 26, 2012, photo, South Korean special army soldiers demonstrate their martial arts skills during the 64th anniversary of Armed Forces Day at the Gyeryong military headquarters in Gyeryong, south of Seoul, South Korea.

Credit: AP Photo/Lee Jin-man

In this Nov. 27, 2012, photo, people prepare to bury the bodies of some of the 112 victims of a garment factory fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Credit: AP Photo/Khurshed Rinku

In this Sept. 5, 2012, photo, people run for cover as smoke rises from the site of a fire at a fireworks factory on the outskirts of Sivakasi, about 310 miles southwest of Chennai, India. Police in southern India arrested six employees of the fireworks factory for a massive blaze that killed 40 workers and injured 60 others.

Credit: AP Photo, file

In this Jan. 22, 2012, photo, a woman pays her respects at a statue of Joe Paterno outside Beaver Stadium on the Penn State University campus after learning of his death in State College, Pa.

Credit: AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

In this Jan. 4, 2012, photo, tea party supporter William Temple, of Brunswick, Ga., sits in the Des Moines Airport heading to go home after the Iowa caucus in Des Moines, Iowa.

Credit: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

In this April 6, 2012, photo, the burning fuselage of an F/A-18 Hornet lies smoldering after crashing into a residential building in Virginia Beach, Va.

Credit: AP Photo/Zach Zapatero

In this Aug. 30, 2012, photo, actor and director Clint Eastwood speaks to an empty chair while addressing delegates during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.

In this Aug 5, 2012, photo, South Africa's Oscar Pistorius starts in the men's 400-meter semifinal during the athletics in the Olympic Stadium at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Credit: AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus

In this Oct. 29, 2012, photo, the floor of the New York Stock Exchange is empty of traders in New York. All major U.S. stock and options exchanges remained closed with Hurricane Sandy nearing landfall on the East Coast. Trading has rarely stopped for weather. A blizzard led to a late start and an early close on Jan. 8, 1996, according to the exchange's parent company, NYSE Euronext. The NYSE shut down on Sept. 27, 1985 for Hurricane Gloria.

Credit: Richard Drew

In this Nov. 26, 2012, photo, a man takes photographs inside a burned out garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The blaze at the factory killed 112 workers.

Credit: AP Photo, file

In this Nov. 04, 2012, photo, a rebel fighter prepares to throw a homemade grenade toward Syrian troops loyal to President Bashar Assad who are hiding in a nearby building as they attempt to gain ground against rebel lines during heavy clashes in the Jedida district of Aleppo, Syria.

Credit: AP Photo/Narciso Contreras

In this Nov. 1, 2012, photo, much of lower Manhattan remains dark, as viewed from the darkened Manhattan side of the pedestrian walkway of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. In the wake of superstorm Sandy, power outages plagued much of the New York area.

Credit: AP Photo/Craig Ruttle

In this June 5, 2012, photo, revelers on the Mall in London watch Britain Queen Elizabeth II appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony as part of a four-day Diamond Jubilee celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II accession to the throne.

Credit: AP Photo/Sang Tan

In this July 23, 2012, photo, James E. Holmes appears in Arapahoe County District Court in Centennial, Colo. Holmes was being held on suspicion of first-degree murder, and facing additional counts of aggravated assault and weapons violations stemming from a mass shooting in a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., that killed 12 and injured dozens of others.

Credit: AP Photo/RJ Sangosti

In this Feb. 26, 2012, photo, Actress Angelina Jolie poses on the red carpet for photographers as she arrives the 84th Academy Awards in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.

Credit: Amy Sancetta

In this June 18, 2012, photo, Indigenous squeeze into a subway train as they ride to the People's Summit for Social and Environmental Justice in defense of the commons, a parallel event taking place alongside the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Earth summit ran through June 22, with three final days of high-profile talks among some 130 top leaders from nations around the globe.

Credit: AP Photo/Felipe Dana

In this May 29, 2012 file photo, elderly people lay on their beds after they were evacuated from the nearby hospital, in Mirandola, northern Italy. A powerful earthquake killed at least 15 people and left 200 injured as it rocked a swath of northern Italy hit just nine days ago. Factories, warehouses and churches collapsed, dealing a second blow to a region where thousands remained homeless from the previous, stronger temblor. The 5.8 magnitude quake left 14,000 people homeless in the Emilia Romagna region north of Bologna, one of Italy

Credit: AP Photo/Marco Vasini

In this Nov. 22, 2012, photo, people stand near a house sitting in the middle of a new main road on the outskirts of Wenling city in east China's Zhejiang province. Authorities have demolished the five-story home that stood incongruously in the middle of a new main road and had become the latest symbol of resistance by Chinese homeowners against officials accused of offering unfair compensation.

Credit: AP Photo, file

In this Oct. 29, 2012, photo, a rebel sniper aims at a Syrian army position, seen with another rebel fighter reflected in a mirror, in a residential building in the Jedida district of Aleppo, Syria.

Credit: AP Photo/Narciso Contreras

In this Nov. 29, 2012, photo, members of the Palestinian delegation react as they surround Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, center, applauding, during a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly after a vote on a resolution on the issue of upgrading the Palestinian Authority's status to non-member observer state passed in the United Nations in New York.

Credit: AP Photo/Kathy Willens

In this Oct. 19, 2012, photo, a Lebanese rescue man, carries an injured boy at the scene of an explosion in the mostly Christian neighborhood of Achrafiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon. A car bomb ripped through eastern Beirut, shearing the balconies of off residential buildings and sending bloodied victims pouring out into the streets in the most serious blast this city has seen in years.

Credit: AP Photo/Hussein Malla

In this March 28, 2012, photo, Afghan security forces escort Taliban militants clad in Afghan women dresses to be presented to the media at the Afghan intelligence department in Mehterlam, Laghman province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghan Intelligence forces arrested seven Taliban militants in Qarghayi district of Laghman province.

Credit: AP Photo/Rahmat Gul

In this Nov. 19, 2012, photo, U.S. President Barack Obama, right, waves as he embraces Myanmar democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi after addressing members of the media at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar. Obama became the first U.S. president to visit the Asian nation also known as Burma.

Credit: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

In this Aug. 16, 2012, photo, police surround the bodies of striking miners after opening fire on a crowd at the Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa. South African police opened fire on a crowd of striking workers at a platinum mine, leaving an unknown number of people injured and possibly dead. Motionless bodies lay on the ground in pools of blood.

Credit: AP Photo/STR

In this Jan. 29, 2012, photo, underprivileged Indian children dressed in costume to look like the late Mahatma Gandhi arrive on a bus before attempting a world record in Kolkata, India. Local non-government organizations put on the event and a total of 485 children took part in the rally ahead of the anniversary of Gandhi's death which falls on January 30th.

Credit: AP Photo/Bikas Das

In this Aug. 31, 2012, photo, Spain's Xabi Torres jumps next to his prosthesis as he leaves the swimming pool after training ahead of the competition at the 2012 Paralympics Olympics in London.

Credit: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

In this July 17, 2012, photo, Nasa Indians drag a soldier during an attack on half a dozen soldiers guarding a communications tower on the outskirts of Toribio, southern Colombia. Six soldiers were attacked and dragged along the ground by dozens of indigenous people demanding the departure of security forces and guerrillas fighters because of their constant fighting. The soldiers dropped their guns, never firing. No injuries were reported.

Credit: AP Photo/William Fernando Martinez

In this May 1, 2012, photo, a police lieutenant swings his baton at Occupy Wall Street activists in New York. Hundreds of activists with a variety of causes spread out over New York City on International Workers Day, or May Day, with Occupy Wall Street members leading a charge against financial institutions.

Credit: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

In this March 20, 2012, photo, suspended by wires, Chinese artist Li Wei performs in the sky at La Villette in Paris. Wei's work often depicts him in apparently gravity-defying situations.

Credit: AP Photo/Francois Mori

In this Nov. 11, 2012, photo, U.S. Army Sgt. Zach Ames, center, who had been on a one-year deployment to Afghanistan, surprises his wife, Bri Ames, left, and their daughter Emersyn, right, with a reunion prior to an NFL football game between the New York Jets and the Seattle Seahawks on Veterans Day in Seattle.

Credit: AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

In this March 10, 2012, photo, Aida cries as she recovers from severe injuries after the Syrian Army shelled her house in Idlib, north Syria. Aida's husband and two of her children were killed after their home was shelled.

Credit: AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd

In this Feb. 15, 2012, photo, inmates relatives clash with police outside a prison after a deadly fire in Comayagua, Honduras. Over 300 inmates perished in the fire that swept through the prison north of Tegucigalpa. More than half the inmates were still awaiting trial. Many of those who died had been locked up for petty crimes: stealing a wallet, robbing a truck. Some had never been charged.

Credit: AP Photo/Fernando Antonio

In this Aug. 24, 2012, photo, mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, makes a salute after arriving in the court room at a courthouse in Oslo. Breivik, who admitted killing 77 people in Norway last year, was declared sane and sentenced to prison for bomb and gun attacks.

Credit: AP Photo/Frank Augstein

In this Nov. 7, 2012, photo, President Barack Obama and wife Michelle holds hands with Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill following Obama's victory speech to supporters in Chicago.

Credit: AP Photo/Jerome Delay

In this March 14, 2012, photo, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich reaches over a railing to shake supporters' hands at his home in Chicago. The 55-year-old Democrat was due to report to a prison in Colorado to begin serving a 14-year sentence, making him the second Illinois governor in a row to go to prison for corruption.

Credit: AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

In this Aug. 2, 2012, photo, U.S. gymnast Gabrielle Douglas performs on the balance beam during the artistic gymnastics women's individual all-around competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Douglas won the gold medal.

Credit: AP Photo/Gregory Bull

In this Oct. 12, 2012, photo, spectators gather to watch the space shuttle Endeavour make its way down Manchester Blvd. in Los Angeles. Endeavour's 12-mile road trip kicked off as it moved from its Los Angeles International Airport hangar en route to the California Science Center, its ultimate destination.

Credit: AP Photo/Chris Carlson

In this July 22, 2012, photo, Bradley Wiggins, winner of the 2012 Tour de France cycling race, celebrates as he crosses the finish line of the last stage of the the Tour de France cycling race over 120 kilometers (74.6 miles) with start in Rambouillet and finish in Paris, France.

Credit: AP Photo/Laurent Rebours

In this June 11, 2012, photo, Chris Combs, of Troy, left, and Stephanie Locke, of Clawson, cross the street in downtown Birmingham, Mich. while participating in a protest by gun enthusiasts. The protest wass in support of eighteen-year-old Sean Michael Combs, of Troy, who was arrested in Birmingham while carrying a rifle. Combs was charged with brandishing a weapon, disturbing the peace, and obstructing a police officer.

Credit: AP Photo/The Detroit News, David Guralnick, File

In this June 2, 2012, photo, Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarak lays on a gurney inside a barred cage in the police academy courthouse in Cairo, Egypt. Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the killing of protesters during last year's revolution that forced him from power, a verdict that caps a stunning fall from grace for a man who ruled the country as his personal fiefdom for nearly three decades.

Credit: AP Photo/Anonymous

In this Nov. 14, 2012, photo, Jihad Masharawi weeps while he holds the body of his 11-month old son Ahmad, at Shifa hospital following an Israeli air strike on their family house, in Gaza City. The Israeli military said its assassination of the Hamas military commander Ahmed Jabari, marks the beginning of an operation against Gaza militants.

Credit: AP Photo/Majed Hamdan

In this Sept. 1, 2012, photo, a villager offers flowers to a female adult elephant lying dead on a paddy field in Panbari village, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Gauhati, India. The elephant was hit by a train and killed while crossing railway tracks with a herd of wild Asiatic elephants.

Credit: AP Photo/Anupam Nath

In this Aug. 17, 2012, photo, feminist punk group Pussy Riot members, from left, Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alekhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova sit in a glass cage at a court room in Moscow, Russia. The women, two of whom have young children, are charged with hooliganism connected to religious hatred. The case was widely seen as a warning that authorities will tolerate opposition only under tightly controlled conditions. T-shirt on right worn by Tolokonnikova is Spanish and translates to "They shall not pass", a slogan often used to express determination to defend a position against an enemy.

Credit: AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev

In this March 4, 2012, photo, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin who claimed victory in Russia's presidential election, has tears in his eyes as he emotionally reacts at a massive rally of his supporters at Manezh square outside Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia.

Credit: AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev

In this June 27, 2012, photo, Tarra Piet, right, is embraced by her cousin Kursty Setty as they stand in Piet's fathers flooded pet store Live Oak Fla. Dozens of homes and businesses were flooded by torrential rains from Tropical Storm Debby.

Credit: AP Photo/Dave Martin

In this Oct. 14, 2012, photo provided by Red Bull Stratos, pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austria jumps out of the capsule during the final manned flight for Red Bull Stratos. In a giant leap from more than 24 miles up, Baumgartner shattered the sound barrier while making the highest jump ever with a tumbling, death-defying plunge from a balloon to a safe landing in the New Mexico desert.

Credit: AP Photo, file

In this Aug. 8, 2012, photo, a man carries puppies back inside their house as other dogs stay on the roof at a flooded area in Marikina City, east of Manila, Philippines. Widespread flooding that killed at least 11 people, battered a million others and paralyzed the Philippine capital began to ease as cleanup and rescue efforts focused on a large number of distressed residents, some still marooned on their roofs.

Credit: AP Photo/Aaron Favila

In this May 18, 2012, photo provided by Facebook, Facebook founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, center, rings the Nasdaq opening bell from Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Robert Greifeld, second from right, CEO of the Nasdaq-OMX Stock Market, Inc. The social media company had its IPO.

Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

In this June 5, 2012, photo, Britain's Prince Charles, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William stand on the balcony at Buckingham Palace during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in central London.

Credit: AP Photo, file

In this Jan. 14, 2012, photo released by the Guardia di Finanza (border Police), the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia leans on its side after running aground off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy. The luxury cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, sending water pouring in through a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in the hull and forcing the evacuation of some 4,200 people from the listing vessel early.

Credit: AP Photo/Anonymous

This Oct. 30, 2012, aerial photo shows burned-out homes in the Breezy Point section of the Queens borough New York. The tiny beachfront neighborhood told to evacuate before Sandy hit New York burned down as it was inundated by floodwaters, transforming a quaint corner of the Rockaways into a smoke-filled debris field.

Credit: AP Photo/Mike Groll

In this March 18, 2012, photo, Archbishops stand next to the body of Pope Shenouda III is seated on the throne of Mar Morqos, or St. Mark, as mourners gather for the viewing of the patriarch at the Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo, Egypt. Pope Shenouda III, the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church who led Egypt's Christian minority for 40 years during a time of increasing tensions with Muslims, died. He was 88.